Hearing on Employment E-Verification System

This coming week, the House Immigration Subcommittee will hold a hearing to discuss the challenges and problems of a mandatory, nation-wide, electronic employment verification system (EEVS).  EEVS is the centerpiece of the "SAVE Act," introduced in Congress in November of last year by Reps. Heath Schuler (D-NC) and Tom Tancredo (R-CO), which proposes a host of deeply flawed deportation-only immigration measures. 

Unfortunately, the aspiration of many policymakers that EEVS might serve as a magic solution to undocumented immigration is not limited to the halls of Congress.  Bills that require employers to use E-Verify, the federal government's small voluntary EEVS, have been introduced and passed in state houses across the country.  On June 4, U.S. District Court Judge Robin J. Cauthron of Oklahoma's Western District issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of provisions in a state law that would require employers to use E-Verify.  The judge found not only that the law likely amounts to an unconstitutional preemption of federal authority over immigration, but would cause "irreparable harm" to businesses faced with "the choice of complying with either state or federal law, but not both."

Over the past several months, the Immigration Policy Center of the American Immigration Law Foundation has highlighted the many serious shortcomings of current federal and state legislative proposals to implement a mandatory EEVS for all employers.  IPC has bundled them together for your convenience:

    * E-Verify and Arizona: Early Experiences for Employers, Employees, and the Economy Portend a Rough Road Ahead (April 2008): Looks at the experiences of Arizona's employers and employees with E-Verify, and early signals of its impact on the state's economy.

    * Does the "SAVE Act" Save Anything? The Real Price of "SAVE" (April 2008): Summarizes the CBO cost estimate of the "SAVE Act."

    * ERROR! Electronic Employment Verification Systems: What Will Happen When Citizens Have to Ask the Government for Permission to Work? (April 2008): Covers information on databases EEVS relies on and what we can expect if these bills are passed, including information on database error rates, the impact on the SSA, and employers' misuse of the program.

    * The Social Security Administration Taking on Immigration and Employment Eligibility:  Not Ready for Prime Time (March 2008): Examines the burden that a new mandatory employment verification program would have on the Social Security Administration.

    * The "Secure America through Verification and Enforcement" ("SAVE Act") of 2007 (H.R. 4088) (February 2008): Summary and Analysis of the SAVE Act's provisions.

Contact: Michele Waslin
202-742-5618
mwaslin@ailf.org

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